Need E-Collar recommendations

Xeph,
 
I use the TriTronics 3 dog unit, but they do make a great one dog unit.
 
Mine has a 1/2 mile range, with tone and 5 levels of stimulation (pulse only). I don't use continuous stimulation as ulse (or nick) work fine for my dogs.
 
Innotek also makes a very reliable collar.
 
The important thing in looking for E-collars are the different levels of stimulation, if it offers tone, Pulse or continuous stimulations, and if the collar (reciever) is rechargable or if it requires a battery. I have used collars that require a battery and those that are rechargeable and I decided to buy a rechargeable even though they were more expensive. That way, I KNOW they are charged and ready when the time comes. Another thing you want to check, is the probe (prong) length. With dogs with heavy coats, you need to make sure that the probes are long enough to come into contact with the skin, otherwise, it will NOT work. Both of them need to touch the skin and the collar needs to be worn a tad bit tighter than a regular collar.
I use them for training my beagle to not run "off-game". They are only allowed to run rabbits, but being scent hounds, they have (in the past) run deer. I have had great success training them in this way, where nothing else worked. Especially when they are far off and in heavy cover.

ORIGINAL: jennie_c_d

I would borrow a bunny in a cage

As a previous bunny owner, I would never, EVER allow that. Rabbits are prone to being frightened to death. They WILL roll over and die if they get startled enough. A drivey dog and a caged prey animal is pretty not-nice.

 
I use "tame" rabbits all the time to train my pups. I haven't had one die on me yet [] Guess they are just used to being chased by beagle puppies round and round in big circles. Actually, once the pups know what it is that I want them to "chase" they usually go into a "starting" pen with wild bunnies. But, it does give them something to "cut their teeth on" so to speak.

ORIGINAL: jennie_c_d

I would borrow a bunny in a cage

As a previous bunny owner, I would never, EVER allow that. Rabbits are prone to being frightened to death. They WILL roll over and die if they get startled enough. A drivey dog and a caged prey animal is pretty not-nice.

As a current bunny owner, I would wholeheartedly agree with that. Yes, some rabbits are very laid back and fine with dogs staring them in the face, but most bunnies are not. Neither of the two bunnies I had experience with were comfortable around my dog, even the one that was raised by a family with a rabbit friendly dog and then brought to my house with a rabbit friendly dog. You'd have to be sure the bunny you borrowed was uber cool.

I am sitting here tempting Kord with kibble to work on "come here". I wish you luck and do what you have to. Babe got away from my mother at 10 months and hit a car full boar, it was the one of the most scariest times in our lives. And her prey drive was anything else on 4 legs.
 
I finally had to install an invisible fence, and it worked wonders on her. She had the lay of the land and her limitations down in 15 min. I hope to not have to do this with Kord, and I have never heard of the long range collars. I highly doubt I will have to use them since he is going to be a house dog, but you never know.
 
Good luck!
Dawn

Thanks everyone for your opinions and honesty in this thread.  I appreciate it.

ORIGINAL: Xeph
I can't afford a personal trainer that is going to charge me out the backside to come to my house and tell me my dog has a high prey drive and needs an e-collar. 

No, but if you drop an agility class temporarily, perhaps you could afford a top notch trainer to recommend the best equipment and show you some training techniques to minimize any detrimental effects on the dog.  It really isn't the collar that's the main issue - it's making sure you are using it correctly.  As you know, I believe that +R can work, but as mrv said, it's all about the human having a resource that the dog is willing to work for.  It's pretty hard to set things up so that your dog  perceives that "leave it" will result in his actually getting to chase a rabbit in a controlled setting!  But, if you could find a way to do that, you would, in fact, be doing what herding is all about - herd when I tell you, stop when I tell you.  It's exactly what the dog was bred for.  IMHO, it's just that he didn't learn this lesson when he was small enough to have it permanently sink in.  Just an example - Sequoyah learned it when she was 11 weeks old, and was proofed by the time she hit 16 weeks.  Next dog, start earlier, and you will probably not have to resort to this.  But, I do understand your angst about the car thing.  Do what you  think you have to, or you wouldn't be able to live with yourself.  Just understand the possible consequences and make the training process more important than the collar itself, and you should be fine.  There was a member on the old board - Charlie - who wrote a good protocol.  Maybe you can find it in the archives.

ORIGINAL: Truley

I am sitting here tempting Kord with kibble to work on "come here". I wish you luck and do what you have to. Babe got away from my mother at 10 months and hit a car full boar, it was the one of the most scariest times in our lives. And her prey drive was anything else on 4 legs.

I finally had to install an invisible fence, and it worked wonders on her. She had the lay of the land and her limitations down in 15 min. I hope to not have to do this with Kord, and I have never heard of the long range collars. I highly doubt I will have to use them since he is going to be a house dog, but you never know.

Good luck!
Dawn

Dawn, your situation seems a bit different, in that your dog simply didn't have a recall.  Xeph's dog does, just not in this particular circumstance.  I would recommend you get the DVD, "Really Reliable Recall" and see if that doesn't help you get a good "come when called" on your dog.  []
If you don't fade out the treats properly, your dog will only come when you have them, so be careful.  If the video is too pricey for you, there's a booklet, too - same info, much cheaper.  I just find that most people learn by seeing it done.  Sorry for the hijack...

completely understand - we use an innotek for an invisible fence and we thought long and hard about it,  a) our HOA doesn't allow 6 ft fence and 4ft is a fun leap for Bugs so fnecing wasn't an option; b) his prey drive is like your Strauss and we weren't convinced it would work.

Well I am happy to say that it is great, the training period was longer than it would be for a dog (he was 11 mos old) without the intense prey drive but he got it and I cannot tell you how impressed we were when we saw him in full pounce mode for a rabbit tht was just over the 'line'.  We watched and waited but he wouldn't go, he started to whine and the energy could be felt 2 counties over but he didn't do it.
4 mos in and he is completely reliable and we have had no problems with the product.  I know they make remote collars too.  We bought ours off eBay for a great price